There are 2 tracks: Accelerated (4 semester) and Curriculum (5 Semester).
First semester is the same for everyone. Depending on how you feel about first semester, you will choose your track after that. If you thought first semester was doable and you didnt struggle too much, most people choose accelerated but some do choose curriculum. If you really struggled in 1st semester and barely passed, I recommend you do curriculum track. Regardless, you need a 70% overall in first semester to choose to do the accelerated track.
The difference between the tracks is that while accelerated has no breaks in the middle of semester, curriculum gets multiple 1-2 week breaks. So for example, in semester 2 both accelerated and curriculum track do the cardiology+respiratory blocks and take their first exam. Then they both do the Gastrointestinal (GI) block, but after the GI block the accelerated track also does Renal but the curriculum track has a week off to study for the exam. After the break, curriculum takes the GI exam, while the accelerated track has an exam on both GI and Renal.
Some downsides of Accelerated: You get no breaks in the middle of the semester, and you usually only get 3-5 dedicated study days for each exam in the semester. Whereas curriculum would usually have a week or two off before the exam. Curriculum can also use these breaks to study for the COMP exam at the end of semester 5, whereas accelerated doesnt get the option to do that.
Some Benefits of Accelerated: Lets say you start in September 2019. If you dont have to retake a semester, you will be done by december 2020 and then take your COMP exam 2 weeks after semester ends. If you pass on first attempt, you will then start the next available IMF(Internal Medicine Foundations) session in March 2021, and you have to take step 1 by April. You will be on track to graduate in beginning of 2023 therefore start residency that summer.
Some downsides of Curriculum: Since you're usually covering less material in a semester, your exams are usually shorter, which means there's very little margin for error.
If you start in September 2019 and choose curriculum track, you would be done in April 2021 and take COMP exam 2 weeks after 5th semester ends. You would then take Step 1 and start IMF in July. The issue here is you would be scheduled to graduate fall 2023, which means you would have to wait until 2024 to start residency.
